Tag Archives: Martin

After winning six in a row, the Yanks lost to Toronto Wed. night, 8-4.

Coming into the game, one-time Yankee C Russell Martin had one extra base hit, a double, all year in 122 at bats with 45 strikeouts and a .172 batting average. He hit two homers and just missed out on a third one.

The Yanks got a run in the second on an RBI groundout by Gardner.

Nova gave up two in the fourth when Chase Headley could not made the play on two chances, both hits. Both plays were difficult.

Nova gave up a HR to Martin in the sixth.

In the seventh, Nova was pulled with two out after he hit a batter, and Chasen Shreve let the game get away. He gave up a HR to Michael Saunders, a double to Justin Smoak, and Martin’s second HR to make it 7-1.

In the bottom of the seventh, Chase Headley (3) and Didi Gregorius (5) hit back to back HRs to cut it to 7-3, but Toronto scored in the eighth to up the margin to 8-3.

In the bottom of the ninth, Austin Romine PH and hit a bomb for his first home run of the year for the final tally. Romine, Headley (2) and Gregorius (3) had all of the Yanks’ hits.

David Ortiz hit 2 of Boston’s 4 HR as the Yanks lost to Boston 5-1 Sunday night.

I have been screaming for years for pitchers to grow a pair and back him off the plate. No one ever does. I mean, the guy has 52 HR against you, beats you like a drum and you just let him dig in and get away with it?

I never see the Yanks—or ANYBODY—back him off the plate. Pitching inside is part of the game. You have to nail that inside corner, and if that means backing someone off the plate in order for you to do it, then you have to do so.

Instead, no one does. They just let him beat them over and over again.

When will someone grow a pair?

That doesn’t mean throw at his head. I mean aim one at his butt. Make him uncomfortable. Make him move his feet. No one ever does.

If Billy Martin were alive and managing, you can bet your sweet bippy that someone would have backed Ortiz off the plate.

Ortiz’ 2 HR enabled him to pass Yaz on Boston’s HR list, and gave him 512 for his career, passing Mel Ott and tying him with Eddie Mathews and Ernie Banks.

Two batters in, the game was over when Severino walked the leadoff hitter and gave up a 2-run HR to Pedroia. Severino gave up just 5 hits in 6 2/3, and struck out 9, but he gave up 3 HR in dropping to 0-5.

Ortiz homered off Severino in the 4th and 7th. Shreve gave up a HR to Bogaerts in the 8th.

All the Yanks managed was a HR by Gardner (3) in the bottom of the 9th. They only got 3 hits.

You knew the bottom of the Yanks’ lineup was going to be a problem going into the game. It was (current batting averages):
Ackley, .103; Hicks .122; Didi .227 and Headley .163.

Throw in that Teix at.210 and Beltran .236 were 4 and 5 and they are slumping. Even Gardner is at just .239.

The lack of hitting goes back to last year. You hope and wonder when (if?) the bats will wake up. Their adjusted OPS (OPS+) is 85—15% below league average. The ERA+ is 93, 7% below league average. Those are not numbers conducive to winning.

Hopefully things get better soon.

Showing some gumption and pitching inside is a start.

The bats have to wake up too. I mean, Headley doesn’t have an extra base hit yet. Meanwhile, Bartolo Colon(!!!) has a HR.

Getting Chapman back today means nothing if the bats can’t give the bullpen a lead.

From the Lohud blog, new hitting coach Alan Cockrell states that Brett Gardner played the entire 2015 season with a wrist injury.

Gardner’s offense began to significantly decline after the All-Star break. He was still getting on base at a pretty decent clip through the end of July, but Gardner hit just .203/.288/.290 from August 1 through the end of the year. Why would a hit by pitch in April cause a massive second-half decline? Cockrell said Gardner got injections to deal with the issue, but eventually he wasn’t allowed to get any more.

“I know he was getting some cortisone and some things like that to try to help him, and they did,” Cockrell said. “They helped him in spurts, but you can only get three of those in a year.”

That wrist injury, along with lingering trouble with Jacoby Ellsbury’s knee, might have been a factor in the Yankees’ struggles at the top of the order.

“It’s tough to hit if you don’t have legs,” Cockrell said. “And it’s tough to hit if you don’t have your hands. … I think it probably was a bigger thing than either of those guys let on.”

Also, the Yanks have let minor leaguer Kyle Roller go. Andrew Bailey is gone as a free agent. Chris Martin was released to go to a Japanese team.

The Yanks lost the opener of a day-night DH to Baltimore 9-2 today (Saturday). The magic number to have that wild card play-in game played at home remains at one. A Yankees win in the nightcap tonight (provided they play, what with the weather) or a Houston loss will ensure the Yanks are at home on Tuesday night for the play-in game.

It wasn’t a good game for the Yanks in many ways. Ivan Nova and Chasen Shreve, both not pitching well lately and both on the bubble as far as making the postseason roster, didn’t pitch well today again. The Yanks also missed out on opportunities, going 1 for 12 with RISP.

I wouldn’t be surprised if neither Nova or Shreve is on the postseason roster. Nova is 6-11 with an ERA over 5.00. He is 2-8 in his last 10 starts with a 6.58 ERA. Meanwhile, Shreve in his last nine games has given up nine runs in five innings.

Down 7-0, the Yanks only two runs came in the seventh on an RBI groundout by Gardner followed by an RBI single by Refsnyder.

Rico Noel did get his first MLB at bat and he made the most of it, getting a single in the ninth.

Also getting his first MLB at bat, making his MLB debut was Gary Sanchez, who popped up after Noel’s hit.

Michael Pineda gave up six runs in the top of the first and even though the Yanks scored four in the bottom of the inning, they couldn’t come back as they lost to Boston 10-4 Tuesday night.

The loss means Toronto’s magic # to clinch the AL East title is down to 1. The 86-71 Yankees have a magic number of 2 to get into the wild card game, and 3 to be the top wild-card seed and have that game played at home.

Weather will be a factor over the next couple of days.

The Angels have now taken over the second wild-card spot…by 1/2 game over Houston.

Pineda did stay in the game to give the bullpen a breather, and did settle down after that first inning, but it was too late.

The Yanks got their runs on an RBI groundout by McCann, RBI double by Beltran and a two-run HR (10) by Dustin Ackley.

But after that four-run first, they were quiet the rest of the night.

Stephen Drew is not only not playing because of performance (or lack thereof). He has been having dizzy spells and could be done for the year. He has been undergoing tests to see if they are concussion-related.

Ever since Teix got hurt, the Yanks are having trouble against lefties. They are thinking of giving backup C John Ryan Murphy some time at 1B.

The Yanks grounded into four DPs Friday night in losing to the White Sox, 5-2.

The Yanks fell four behind Toronto in the AL East with nine to play. It’s safe to say the Yanks should concentrate on being the home team in the wild card game and forget about the division. Even though there is still a chance for the division, that chance is very slim. You won’t hear the Yanks conceding, but…

The Yanks are 84-69, and still have a 4 1/2 game lead over Houston for WC #1. They have a 5 game lead over the Angels for WC 2. The magic # to just get into the wild card game remains at 5.

From LOHUD:

One more quick note on Masahiro Tanaka. He said that he still felt the hamstring strain slightly during his bullpen today, but he doesn’t think it will prevent him from pitching. Girardi indicated pregame that they’d like to start him next week, but nothing is set in stone. “We didn’t expect him to be 100 percent today,” Girardi said. “We wanted to have him throw a bullpen to keep things going. I really think you have to see how he feels the next couple of days and the decision is, do you have him do another bullpen before he starts? Or do you think that he’s ready to start a game.”

If Tanaka can start Tuesday or Wednesday, he can start that wild card game on about a week’s rest. You wonder about the rust after missing a start. If Tanaka can’t start the WC game, then who? Would you trust the rookie, Severino? Would you go with Pineda?

Both Yankee runs Friday night were driven in by Gregorius in the fourth. It tied the game 2-2 at that point, but when CC gave up two solo HRs in the seventh, that decided it.